Aythorpe Roding have one more chance to finish their disappointing Mid Essex Cricket League Premier Division season on a high - after their penultimate game ended in a heavy defeat.
They were beaten by 179 runs at home to Great Waltham, staying bottom with relegation already confirmed.
Despite the loss, they did have moments which gave them hope although these were often snuffed out quickly by Waltham.
The visitors won the toss and opted to bat first. They lost two early wickets for 32 runs but the combination of Matt Duggan and Ollie Fitzwater changed the complete outlook of the game.
They put on 209 runs for a third-wicket partnership which also had to contend with rain, thunder and lightning.
Both got to 108, with Fitzwater unbeaten at the end as Great Waltham reached 283-3 before declaring in the 42nd over.
Manith De Silva, Arosh Amarasinghe and Joe Grant claimed the wickets to fall.
Aythorpe Roding lost an early wicket with the score on four but recovered quickly thanks to the efforts of skipper Paul Gravatt and Rob Hyams.
They put on 61 runs for the second wicket, with the skipper scoring 14.
Another 15-run partnership between Hyams, who got to his half century, and Richard Eaton pushed Roding onto 80-3 wickets but that was as good as it got.
Waltham's spin duo of Josh Fitzwater (5-11) and Matthew Reed (4-15) decimated the rest of the home batting as they slumped to 104 all out inside 26 overs.
Aythorpe Roding go to Little Baddow on Saturday in their final game of the season.
High Roding's game away to Great Baddow was abandoned with Roding on the cusp of victory.
They had made 281-5 in their 45 overs after winning the toss, and they had the home side in trouble at 141-9 when the match came to an early and unsatisfactory conclusion.
The second team enjoyed a five-wicket win over Great Totham.
Totham batted first and made 128 with Harry Pilcher and Jon Murphy sharing six wickets equally between them.
It took less than 17 overs for them to get to 132-5, Freddie Duke scored 44 and Harry Pilcher got 32.
Saffron Walden's poor run in the East Anglian Premier League continues after a 105-run loss to Sudbury.
They won the toss but put the home side into bat, and had to watch as they rattled up 316-6 in their 50 overs.
Oliver Rae and Josh O'Connor both managed two wickets each but strong partnerships kept pushing the score up an up.
Brynn Mendel did his best to pull his time to a revised target of 297 in 43 overs but they were all out in the 38th over for 191.
Mendel managed 64 from just 36 deliveries and Finn Karsten and Jack Sneath both hit 34.
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